answers to reporter's question, "What's your ambition?"] Barry Wom: I'd like to be a hairdresser. Or two. I'd like to be two hairdressers. Ron Nasty: [sullenly] I'd like to own a squadron of tanks. Dirk McQuickly: What Ron and I'll do is probably to write some songs, you know, and sell them to people.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------[on manager Leggy Mountbatten's discovery of the Rutles] Iris Mountbatten: Well, he told me that he'd been to see these young men in a dark cellar. Narrator: Yes. Iris Mountbatten: He was always very interested in young men. Narrator: Oh, yes. Iris Mountbatten: Youth clubs, Boy Scouts, that sort of thing. Narrator: Yes. Iris Mountbatten: But these, he said, were different. Narrator: In what way? Iris Mountbatten: Their hair, and... their presence... and their music... Narrator: He liked it? Iris Mountbatten: No, he hated it. Narrator: What did he like? Iris Mountbatten: Well, em... the trousers. Narrator: What about their trousers? Iris Mountbatten: Well, they were, eh, they were very, em... tight.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Reporter: It must have been a great honor, meeting the queen. Ron Nasty: Yes, it must have been. Reporter: What did she ask you? Barry Wom: She asked us who we were. And then to get out. Reporter: What did you say? Dirk McQuickly: [pointing at Ron Nasty] I said I was him.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------[on manager Leggy Mountbatten's emigration to Australia] Narrator: It was a bombshell for the Rutles. They were shocked... and stunned. Dirk McQuickly: Well, we're shocked. Ron Nasty: Yeah, shocked. Barry Wom: Shocked. Dirk McQuickly: And stunned. Ron Nasty: Yeah, stunned. Barry Wom: Very stunned. Reporter: Did Arthur Sultan have any words of encouragement for you? Ron Nasty: No. Dirk McQuickly: Well, yeah. Ron Nasty: Well, yeah and no... he said, uh, that it took all sorts to make a world, and that we shouldn't worry unduly about where he'd gone. Dirk McQuickly: You know, we shouldn't become covered with grief at thoughts of Australia, because - Ron Nasty: He did say that we could still keep in touch with him by tapping the table. Dirk McQuickly: And postcards. Ron Nasty: Yeah. Barry Wom: Very stunned.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------[Ron Nasty and wife Chastity are giving a press conference in Nasty's shower] Ron Nasty: We're doing this for peace, and basically to show that the world is, you know, going astray in its thinking. Reporter: What are you doing? Ron Nasty: We're getting wet. In a shower. Because, basically, we talked it over, Chastity and myself, and we came to the conclusion that civilization is nothing more than an effective sewage system. And so by the use of plumbing we hope to demonstrate this to the world.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Narrator: Mick, why do you think the Rutles broke up? Mick Jagger: Why do I think they did? Why did the Rutles break up? Women. Just women. Getting in the way. Cherchez la femme, you know. Narrator: Do you think they'll ever get back together again? Mick Jagger: I hope not.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Narrator: Stig, meanwhile, had hidden in the background so much that in 1969, a rumor went around that he was dead. He was supposed to have been killed in a flash fire at a waterbed shop and replaced by a plastic and wax replica from Madame Tusseaud's. Several so-called "facts" helped the emergence of this rumor. One: he never said anything publicly. Even as the "quiet one," he'd not said a word since 1966. Two: on the cover of their latest album, "Shabby Road," he is wearing no trousers, an Italian way of indicating death. Three: Nasty supposedly sings "I buried Stig" on "I Am The Waitress." In fact, he sings, "E burres stigano," which is very bad Spanish for "Have you a water buffalo?" Four: On the cover of the "Sergeant Rutter" album, Stig is leaning in the exact position of a dying Yeti, from the Rutland Book of the Dead. Five: If you sing the title of "Sergeant Rutter's Only Darts Club Band" backwards, it's supposed to sound very like "Stig has been dead for ages, honestly." In fact, it sounds uncannily like "Dnab Bulc Ylno S'rettur Tnaegres." Palpable nonsense.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Narrator: In the midst of all this public bickering, "Let it Rot" was released as a film, an album, and a lawsuit. In 1970, Dirk sued Stig, Nasty, and Barry; Barry sued Dirk, Nasty, and Stig; Nasty sued Barry, Dirk, and Stig; and Stig sued himself accidentally. It was the beginning of a golden era for lawyers, but for the Rutles, live on a London rooftop, it was the beginning of the end.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Narrator: And you turned down the Rutles. Brian Thigh: Yeah, yeah. [beat] Narrator: What's it like being an a**hole?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Narrator: In 1966 the Rutles faced the biggest threat to their careers. Nasty in a widely quoted interview had apparently claimed that the Rutles were bigger than God, and was reported to have gone on to say that God had never had a hit record. The story spread like wildfire in America. Many fans burnt their albums, many more burnt their fingers attempting to burn their albums. Album sales skyrocketed, People were buying them just to burn them. But in fact it was all a ghastly mistake. Nasty, talking to a slightly deaf journalist, had claimed only that the Rutles were bigger than Rod. Rod Stewart would not be big for another eight years, and certainly at this stage hadn't had a hit. At a press conference, Nasty apologised to God, Rod and the Press, and the tour went ahead as planned. It would be the Rutles' last.

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John: You're just a lonely old man from Liverpool.Grandfather: But I'm clean!John: Are ya?

The Beatles gave their seal of approval to parody group The Rutles, Eric Idle has claimed. Only Paul McCartney was initially reluctant to embrace the band when they made their debut in a spoof 1978 documentary, the ex-Python says.Idle said that George Harrison, who bankrolled the Pythons

I was at a special screening of the film at the National Film Theatre in London, and afterwards Neil Innes, who was a guest speaker, told of a conversation he had with John Lennon about the songs in the film. Warner Brothers were releasing the soundtrack and John was discussing the songs with Neil. Apparently John loved the songs and the film but advised Neil to be careful over publishing and in particular "Get Up And Go" which he thought was very similar to Get Back. He told Neil that he personally had no problem with any of the tracks but the Beatles' publishers might take him to task over that one particular track.

Get Up And Go was duely left off the album "All You Need Is Cash" - the album even received a Grammy nomination!

However, despite the absense of Get Up And Go, this didn't stop the Beatles' American publishers, ATV, taking Neil to court over plagiarism of ALL of the tracks!

In preparation of the case, Neil paid for his own defence and even employed a musicologist to analyse the songs to demonstrate that they were not rip-offs of the Beatles. This obviously cost him a substantial sum! In the meantime, and unknown to Neil, his own publishers decided to settle out of court!!!

In the end it was estimated that Neil lost about 20,000 pounds in royalties on top of the musicologist's fee.

Neil was absolutely devastated and became totally disillusioned with the music industry - so much so that he even pulled out of his own long-running comedy/music TV show "The Innes Book Of Records"! He quit music for some 10 years and instead tried his hand at children's TV notably "Puddle Lane" in which he played a wizzard and "Raggy Dolls" which he narrated sang the theme tune.

Ironically it was another act of musical plagiarism that prompted Neil to pick up his guitar again! In 1994, he heard Oasis on the radio singing "Whatever". It was very similar to a song he wrote for Monty Python - as performed at the Python's live show at the Hollywood Bowl - the song was "How Sweet to Be an Idiot".

Neil's records company, EMI, contacted Sony to kindly point this out to Oasis and the result was that EMI and Innes now own a quarter of Whatever!

Once he'd won his case, his original idea was to bring out his own version of "Whatever" but this gradually developed into a whole new Rutles album - later released as "Archaeology"!

The Rutles played a short farewell tour last year which culminated, aptly enough, in a final show which happened to be at the Beatles Convention in Liverpool last August... and guess who was there to see it!!!!